More than 300,000 patients receive mechanical ventilation during intensive care per year in the United States, even though the hospital mortality rate for ventilated patients can approach 50 percent. New findings indicate that medical patients with an alcohol-use disorder (AUD) are more likely to require mechanical ventilation, and/or need it for a longer period of time.Results are published in the July issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. [click link for full article]

A plate and cereal bowl with markers for proper portion sizes appear to help obese patients with diabetes lose weight and decrease their use of glucose-controlling medications, according to a report in the Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.Between 1960 and 2000, the proportion of U.S. adults who were obese increased from 13.4 percent to 30.9 percent, according to background information in the article. [click link for full article]

Most patients who survived severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) had good physical recovery, but they or their caregivers often reported a decline in mental health one year later, according to a study in the Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.”Severe Acute Respiratory syndrome (SARS) became a global epidemic in 2003. [click link for full article]

The Kentucky Medicaid program will be able to fund the $5.7 billion annual cost of the program, avoiding a deficit that in 2005 was projected to range from $125 million to $675 million, Health and Family Services Secretary Mark Birdwhistell said on Monday, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports. [click link for full article]

The House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee on Tuesday held a hearing to consider proposals to revise the Medicare reimbursement system for anemia medications administered to kidney dialysis patients, Dow Jones reports. [click link for full article]

Obese or overweight Chinese individuals age 65 and older have a lower risk of developing tuberculosis than those at a normal weight, according to a study in the June 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.”Tuberculosis is commonly associated with poverty and undernutrition in both developed and developing countries. [click link for full article]

The New York Times on Tuesday published several letters to the editor in response to a June 22 Times opinion piece written by Melinda Henneberger, author of “If They Only Listened to Us: What Women Voters Want Politicians to Hear. [click link for full article]

A 60-year-old who is overweight/obese has more than twice the chance of developing dementia by the time he/she is 75 compared to a 60-year-old of normal weight. As rates of obesity in the United Kingdom rise alarmingly, it is possible the country may have 2.5 million people suffering from dementia by the middle of the century. Currently, about 700,000 people suffer from dementia/Alzheimer’s disease in the UK. [click link for full article]

Patients with osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) face different treatment options and determining which ones to try can be confusing. Two new studies published in the July 2007 issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism (http://www.interscience.wiley. [click link for full article]

If you want to have a cigarette in England after July 1, make sure it is not in an enclosed public place - otherwise you will be breaking the law. As of July 1, it will be illegal to smoke in enclosed public places - offices, pubs, bars, factories and public buildings. You can still smoke outdoors and in your home. This new law is aimed at protecting the health of the non-smoker, who allegedly risks his/her health by breathing secondhand smoke (passive smoking). [click link for full article]